This invention relates generally to the field of air support beds and more specifically to an air-supported device that performs the unassisted rotation of a patient giving therapeutic benefits.
When people become incapacitated they need help to lie on their side, to get in and out of bed and in extreme cases people are totally confined to bed and cannot move at all. Healthcare providers are necessary for the continued health of the bed-ridden patient. The patient's health depends on bodily movement of the patient on continual bases. When the body of a patient becomes dormant, pressure points on the body are assessable to bedsores and decubitus ulcers. To minimize the occurrence of bedsores and decubitus ulcers, healthcare providers must move the patient to different pressure point positions in a timely manner as recommended by a doctor. Some doctors as often as every two hours have required the patient's change in position. This continual physical stress on the healthcare providers has contributed to back injuries and muscle strains causing workers to call off sick leaving the other remaining healthcare providers to more overtime and even more physical stress and more likely to extend the time frame of each patient being moved. This invention provides the ability to move a bed-ridden patient to their side as easily as airing up a small air mattress. The design of the invention allows the patient to be moved slowly as not to jerk or pull on the skin of the patient or slide them on a bed sheet. It allows the healthcare provider to easily clean and medicate the patient, change the sheets on the bed and dress the patient without pulling, tugging or straining to get the job done or even waiting for assistance from a co-worker to move a plus size patient.
The health care industry is moving toward home care, where possible, to reduce cost. This device can be placed on a bed at a home to move a spouse or loved one by a family member or friend without the assistance of another. The bed-ridden patient could stay in their bed and be moved in a timely manner as required by a doctor.
Prior technology has strived to accomplish different functions needed in the medical field to help bed-ridden patients. Shifting the patient's pressure points helped reduce pressure ulcers (U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,071) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,856) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,520) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,290) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,551) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,787) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,762) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,784) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,291) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,843) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,584). Aids were conceived to help turn patients (U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,908) (U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,781) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,221). Some prior technology required large machines to accomplish the task (U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,169). Some were designed and developed as the bed itself (U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,547) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,903) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,249) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,247) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,029) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,077) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,568) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,519) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,719) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,713) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,057) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,963) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,949). Some were made for therapy purposes only (U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,690) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,500) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,867) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,529) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,512) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,115) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,044) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,372).
Other inventions either fall short of completely turning the patient to his/her side (U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,629) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,273) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,942) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,873) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,292) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,716) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,252) (U.S. Pat. No. 7,007,330) or slides the patient on the bed that could cause sheet burns during the move (U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,905) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,636) or the device is built in a way that it cannot be placed on an existing bed or modifying the bed in some manner (U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,737) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,396). Some depend on the strength of the healthcare provider to do the task (U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,736) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,848) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,231) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,974) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,793). Some accomplish the same task by using more air chambers or by dropping the patient down instead of the lift and turn system (U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,007). Some require a large area to maneuver the device to accomplish the task (U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,887).
There are a number of prior inventions that have the ability to turn patients that would reduce or eliminate pressure ulcers but fail to move the patient completely to the patient's side like the present invention. Very few inventions, if any, could be installed on an existing bed, whether at home or in a care facility, which could rotate a patient completely to their side like the present invention.
The present invention even allows the access for other inventions (U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,443) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,843) to be placed under patients while still in bed so that the patient can be lifted completely off the bed if necessary.